Industry Leaders Discuss Sustainable Practices At Mumbai TAI Conference
The Mumbai unit of The Textile Association (India) hosted an international conference on January 31, 2023, at Hotel The Lalit, Mumbai, centred around “Sustainability and Circularity – The New Challenges for the Textile Value Chain.” The conference was inaugurated by Seema Srivastava, Executive Director of India ITME Society, who lit the ceremonial lamp with other dignitaries.
V. C. Gupte, Conference Convenor & Chairman of The Textile Association (India), Mumbai unit, emphasized that sustainability is now being viewed in a redefined manner, associated with circularity.
G. V. Aras, Conference Chairman, highlighted the significance of sustainability and circularity in manufacturing to reduce environmental impact. He mentioned that the conference would raise awareness in the industry about adopting these practices in production and consumption.
During the event, the association honoured Dr Sharad Kumar Saraf, CMD of Technocraft Group, with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the industry. Rajkumar Agarwal, Managing Director of SVG Fashion Ltd, received the Industrial Excellence Award for his pioneering work in the knitwear industry.
Speakers at the conference included Ullhas Nimkar, Chairman of NimkarTek Technical Services, who spoke on ‘Understanding Sustainability and Circularity in the Textile Value Chain.’ Mayank Mody, Director of Mody Linen Fibre, and Dr G S Nadiger, General Secretary of the Non-Conventional Fibres Association, addressed ‘Sustainability in Textile Fibres.’
Presentations were also given by Shiladitya Joshi from Truetzschler India on ‘Truetzschler’s Approach towards Sustainability’ and Prashant Pote from Bluesign Technologies on ‘Bluesign Solutions for Sustainability & Circularity.’ Umasankar Sinha Mahapatra, MD of Pulcra Chemicals India, discussed ‘Sustainable Wet Processing of Textiles,’ while Dr Ajay Ranka, CMD of Zydex Group, focused on ‘Farm & Forest Sustainability for Organic Fibre Production – Profitable one crop transition.’
The conference concluded with a panel discussion on ‘Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs),’ moderated by Chandrima Chatterjee, Secretary-General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI). Panel members included Rahul Bhajekar, MD of Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Murugan Thenkondar, President & Global Head of Birla Cellulose, Kapil Pathare, Director of VIP Clothing Ltd, M Gunasekaran, Technical Marketing & Development Manager (South Asia) of Lenzing Fibers, Avik Banerjee from H&M Group, and Srinivasan Krishnamurthy, Raw Material Specialist at IKEA Services (India).
